Two Women Left the Bachelor: Vietnam for Each Other and Are Now in a Relationship

Last month a contestant on the Bachelor: Vietnam named Minh Thu left the show during a rose ceremony after revealing she found what she was looking for, just not with bachelor Nguyen Quoc Trung. “I went into this competition to find love. But I’ve found that love for myself. But it isn’t you,” Minh Thu told him at her final rose ceremony. She then walked over to Truc Nhu, another contestant, and asked her to “Come home with me.” Nhu obliged, returned her rose to Trung and they left together…or so it appeared. Off camera, Nhu had a heart-to-heart with Trung (who was actually very cool about her decision to leave in the first place) and she changed her mind once more, deciding to stay in the competition.

Before you boo: according to an interview with executive producer Anh Tran in Nextshark, the women recently got together and are now happily in a relationship. “They left the show and have been together since,” Tran explained. “We delivered on our promise that two people would find love.”

Considering Vietnam’s less-than-ideal yet still-better-than-much-of-Southeast Asia approach to LGBTQ rights, the move feels a bit radical. In 2015, Vietnam lifted its ban on same-sex marriage but did not grant full recognition to the unions or protection for spouses. Consequently, a year after the lift, Time reported on discrimination, bullying and other displays of homophobia in the country.

It’s also worth mentioning, too, that Minh Thu and Truc Nhu aren’t the first women contestants to start a relationship after their time on the Bachelor. In 2016, on the Bachelor: Australia, two contestants named Megan Marx and Tiffany Scanlon fell in love with each other and began a relationship. It, too, felt progressive—it wasn’t until 2017 that Australia legalized gay marriage.